13 Die in East Coast Floods as Storm Moves Out to Sea

Rivers swept out of their banks Tuesday in West Virginia’s worst flooding disaster, and 13 persons were killed in Maryland and the Virginias as a storm deluged the mid-Atlantic states, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.

Some residents scrambled to safety on rooftops and in trees as floodwaters also inundated houses in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before the storm system, which had stalled over the region for four days, crept slowly northward and out to sea.

Hundreds of roads were submerged, some covered by up to 12 feet of water and others by mud slides, homes were washed away and looting was reported in isolated pockets beyond the reach of busy police.

Damage Put at $120 Million

Thousands of people were driven from their homes in Roanoke, Va., by the flooding Roanoke River and property damage was estimated at $120 million in the area.

Rescuers in helicopters plucked at least 250 people from rooftops, including a state legislator and his family who were stranded atop their flooded grocery in Roanoke.

Legislator Victor Thomas said that the rescue helicopter made two trips before pulling him to safety from the market roof. He said that if the chopper had returned two minutes later, “we would have been gone. It’s just the grace of God that we’re OK.”

West Virginia Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., who mobilized the National Guard and appealed to President Reagan to designate 22 counties as disaster areas, said that the flooding “covered more territory and affected more people” than any in the state’s history.

“It’s certainly, in terms of the widespread nature, got to rank as the worst flooding disaster West Virginia has ever had,” Moore’s press secretary, John Price, said.

Guardsmen Called In

Virginia Gov. Charles S. Robb declared an emergency and sent National Guard troops to help communities cope with the floods, triggered by four days of rain that dumped up to 10 inches on parts of Virginia.

The storm also brought rain and some minor flooding in Washington, D.C., before tapering off.

Up to 60 barges ripped loose from moorings on the Monongahela River, which starts in West Virginia and flows past Pittsburgh to the Ohio River.